


I Remember the Universe

by madcapdragonshenanigans



Series: An Expanding Universe [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, I hope you enjoy sappy nonsense about weddings and sardonyx showing up in every chapter, Someone stop me, also they’re both emotionally vulnerable and NEED EACH OTHER OKAY, content warning: existential BS, edit: no she’s not, garnet and pearl are the mothers the crystal gems deserve, mad is done now, self indulgent (and probably too frequent) usage of ocean metaphors, this turned into a three chapter monster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-24 13:30:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14356485
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madcapdragonshenanigans/pseuds/madcapdragonshenanigans
Summary: Somethings are very... human concepts. Sometimes understanding takes a moment, sometimes it takes milenia. And sometimes... sometimes 6,000 years is a moment of its own. In the end, looking back, when the newest generation of Maheswaran-Universes’ ask her to tell the story, Pearl knows which three moments were the ones where she began to understand it all.





	1. Then

**Author's Note:**

> What’s up! I’m Madeline, your local lesbian trash bag who’s migrated over to the Steven Universe fandom. It is very nice to meet all of you! First foray into this fandom, so I hope it’s alright! If you like it, or not, blame my sister for convincing my mom to buy the show. Two weeks later, I’m seven seasons deep and she hasn’t finished season one. 
> 
> Well, what can you do. I hope you enjoy!

The concept of souls was so utterly... human. When she was young, Pearl used to laugh to herself, politely, about how humans comforted themselves in the face of the harsh reality that they were temporary. That was back when the war raged on and the idea that a part of you was forever, even for a Gem, was ludicrous at best. The closest Pearl came to feeling like forever was possible was when she was fused with Rose, but even then it was temporary. An illusion created by feelings Pearl wasn’t made to understand.

A pearl was created to be a beautiful, submissive servant to whoever could afford her. A pearl was blindly loyal, and would follow her mistress to the ends of the galaxy.

Pearl had been created for Pink Diamond, but her loyalty belonged to Rose Quartz. She belonged to Rose Quartz. And she was okay with it. It was her choice. You weren’t a servant if you chose your mistress, were you?

It was at the secret base, the one that Home World knew nothing about, that Pearl first began to understand the concept of souls.

No humans lived in this area of the world, no Home World soldiers knew of its location; the hills, the sand, and the ocean were a refuge for the Crystal Gems. They were in the midst of building a temple - somewhere every Gem could have place of their own. There would be hundreds of doors, that were activated by your gem - or gems, for Fusions - that opened to a room that was made for whomever opened it.

That was yet to be. For now, the beginnings of a beautiful statue of an ambiguous Fusion was being carved into the rocky cliff that looked out over the beach, and at the moment, looked over Pearl.

Pearl had always loved this place, the sand, the salt, the rhythm of the waves. The breeze caressed her gem, her eyelids, and blew through her short hair. When she opened her eyes for the first time since she’d sat down, she looked out at the stars reflected in the rippling waves. The ones in the sky were too well known. She knew which ones shined on Gem colonies, and which soon would. One day, she hoped she’d forget.

Pearl repressed a shudder. She doubted she’d forget anything about the war.

“Pearl?”

The unexpected voice caused her to jump slightly. Pearl wasn’t snuck up on - she couldn’t afford to be surprised, not when so many relied on her. She sighed and closed her eyes briefly before turning to look at the Gem who was standing behind her and to her right.

“Hello, Garnet.”

Pearl gave Garnet a small smile and patted the ground next to her. Garnet, in all her blue and pink glory, took a seat.

“How long have you been standing there?” Pearl asked, sinking her fingers into the damp sand.

“I think... a while. I’ve never seen you here before. I thought, I thought I was the only one who came here.” Garnet spoke with deliberation, and long pauses. She hadn’t existed long, and Pearl had only spoken to her a few times.

“I thought the same,” Pearl said after a moment.

The waves lapped higher into up the shore, brushing Pearl and Garnet’s feet. A strand of seaweed caught on her ankle, and she delicately untangled it and set it back on the sand where it would be retaken by the sea.

“I...” Garnet’s voice washed over Pearl before stopping, pulling back with uncertainty.

Pearl looked at Garnet again, eyebrows pulling towards her gem.

“I’ve never seen you without Rose Quartz,” Garnet said, her voice smooth. “Until tonight I thought, I thought you were... like me. Are you and Rose?” Garnet’s words trailed off.

Pearl looked back at the ocean. Waves went in. Waves went out. In and out. In... out... in... out... steady.

“We’re not like Ruby and Sapphire, Rose and I. I... I wish... I wish we were, I think. That kind of love... I wasn’t made for that. I was made to be devoted.”

Pearl gasped as Garnet’s hand touched the top of her own.

“They weren’t made for love either. Gems aren’t, not usually, but love exists anyway. I’m proof of that.”

Pearl blushed, warm turquoise coating her cheeks.

“Do you feel... like the two of them? All the time? Just, embraced?” Pearl wanted to smack herself.

“How do you feel when you fuse?” Garnet asked, “I’ve seen Rainbow Quartz.”

Pearl tried to hug herself but only managed one arm. Garnet had fully taken ahold of her other hand, gem pressed against Pearl’s smooth palm.

“It feels... it feels strong, but I still feel like me? But I can see all the things I’m not that people want me to be when it’s over. I just feel... inadequate. I know Rose cares for me, but I’m still a pearl to her. Her favorite pearl, but still...” Pearl sniffed, curling into herself further. “But that doesn’t matter. It’s my choice to serve her, and no other pearl has ever gotten a choice.”

Garnet was silent for a long time. A gull landed beside them, their stillness gaining its trust. It was Garnet tightening her grip the tiniest bit that prepared Pearl for her response.

“I don’t feel like Sapphire and Ruby. I feel like myself. I’m made of them, but I’m not them. I feel them, their love, in my... I think humans call it a soul.”

“I wish I understood. I wish I understood true fusion, I wish I understood souls, I wish... so many things.”

Garnet’s other hand was against her jaw, turning her head to face her.

“Here.”

Garnet leaned in, pressing her lips to Pearl’s gem.

And for a moment, Pearl ceased to be.

Sensations that lasted nanoseconds flooded over her, in and out, in... out... steady. She felt Garnet, and Sapphire and Ruby - their love for each other that created Garnet. The feeling washed over her, becoming something new. It was like an embrace, for a moment.

Sardonyx looked out over the ocean, the reflection of the stars and the crescent moon rippling into distortion, creating new shapes. The gull gave an offended cry and shuffled further along the shore.

‘ _Who am I?_ ’ Sardonyx thought, looking down at her warm brown hands.

Memories from Garnet and Pearl flooded her mind, feelings connecting them together, becoming Sardonyx‘s first memories and emotions.

She remembered Sapphires days as an ambassador and prophet. She remembered how Ruby felt as Sapphire’s bodyguard. She pressed her hand against her heart as she felt Garnet’s joy at fusing, and her fear of the Crystal Gems casting her out as well, her anxiety over what she wanted out of the rebellion and her anger at the Home World. She sank to her knees as Pearl’s memories, the living nightmare that was the pearl kindergarten, if you could call it that. It was a factory. Pearl after pearl made with no will of her own.

Sardonyx closed all four of her eyes, and the two of her hands that had gems buried in the sand, the other two settled on her knees. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes again.

The galaxy looked back at her, and where Pearl saw star names and colonization dates, and Garnet saw a home that would never accept her as she was, Sardonyx saw something entirely different.

She saw the universe.

The energies that flowed between everything, the light traveling between stars, the love between humans, the love between gems, the sense of herself, connected to everything around her, the past, the present, the future.

She felt the universe.

She remembered being a part of it. The distant feeling of being everything, of feeling everything that made her, _her_.

‘ _I am everything that Garnet and Pearl have felt, have been, feel, are, will feel, will be. I am more than either of them.’_

Sardonyx closed her eyes, decision made in a moment. She couldn’t see the future like Sapphire, she couldn’t sense and decipher probability and chance like Garnet, but she could feel everything. She knew that what she felt would always exist. It always had.

She wouldn’t be gone for long.

In and out, in... out... steady... the tide receding. Sardonyx let herself flow out with the light of a star of her own.

Pearl felt Garnet’s hands in her own, gems rough and wonderful against her palms; her own gem pressed against Garnet’s chest.

“I think I’m starting to understand.”

“I think I am too.”

 


	2. Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently I can’t stop writing this. I’m sorry/you’re welcome.

Motherhood was another human concept that Pearl didn’t understand. Aside from the jealousy, and the guilt that came hand in hand, when her feelings involved Rose and Rose’s various lovers through the years, Pearl honestly didn’t understand what Rose wanted. Why would she knowing give up her life to create another? Pearl drew up plan after plan to safely insert energy into a mineral rich area without doing damage to the environment. That way Rose could have her child, and she and Greg could raise it together.

No matter how many variations Pearl came up with, Rose wouldn’t budge. Rose was stubborn by nature, and so was Pearl. Their greatest conflicts stemmed from that. This has been no different. But Pearl was older, wiser than she’d been during the war, and deep down she knew sometimes you couldn’t fight the tide. You could only keep your head above the water and hope it took you towards land.

When Steven was born, the grief tore all of them apart. Garnet separated, and Sapphire and Ruby clutched at each other, didn’t release for weeks. Amethyst was suddenly a young woman who made rash decisions and came back to the temple crying and bruised. Greg shut out everyone but Steven, focusing solely on the baby’s needs.

And Pearl? Pearl was alone.

She was always alone.

When Pearl first held Steven a week later, she finally understood Rose. Little hands grabbed her nose, the little boy giggling and squirming, and Pearl cried. When the sobs began to threaten to endanger Steven with the force of them, Sapphire and Ruby took him between the two of them, and suddenly Garnet appeared, tears glistening in all three eyes. Amethyst played a human game - peak-a-boo - and the next time she came home she was three years younger, and her bruises came from her trying to fly off a swing set.

Change gives you perspective, and from this distance, Pearl realized that she changed more in the fourteen (and counting) years of Steven’s life than she had in the previous 6,000. Funny how that worked.

Sitting on the beach with Steven, listening to him tell her about how Lars was doing in space, wondering aloud to her about how long it would take all of them to get to earth, it hit her again how much he had changed her.

Because of him, she understood Rose, and she understood herself. What she’d felt the day she’d first held him was what Rose had wanted to feel for herself: motherhood.

She’d never told Steven how she felt, and she’d never talked about it with Amethyst. The closest Pearl had ever gotten to talking about it with anyone was when she slipped up around Garnet, referring to him as, “our son,” and then blushing at the mistake and it’s several implications. It happened more and more, occasionally it happened when she was talking about Amethyst too.

“Pearl?” Steven sounded put out.

“Hmm, wha? Oh, sorry, Steven, I got caught up in my thoughts. What did you ask me?” Pearl blushed light turquoise.

“I wanted to know if you wanted to build a sandcastle,” Steven repeated, cheerfulness coming back.

“I would love to build a sandcastle,” Pearl said, reaching out to ruffle Steven’s curls.

“Hey!” Steven brushed her hand away, laughing. Then he paused. “You’ve never done that before, that’s a Garnet thing.”

Pearl flushed deeper. “Well, I’ve lived with her for thousands of years, certain things are bound to rub off.”

Steven laughed and and began to push sand into a pile. They hadn’t brought buckets and shovel’s out to do it the old fashioned way, but that didn’t matter. It was fun this way too.

“I guess I don’t always think about how long you’ve known each other,” Steven said, hand under his chin. He gave a deliberate thinking face. “In human terms you’d be common law married, like, a billion times over.”

Steven rolled on to his side laughing at himself, and the tower Pearl had been sculpting with her powers collapsed as her hands clenched, and the rest of her face went bright blue.

“Wha-what?”

When Steven’s giggles subsided, he rolled onto his stomach. “Well, when two people live together for a certain amount of time they’re considered married by the government. My dad told me about it. And you’re guys are pretty much my moms at this point anyways, so you’re like, double married.”

Pearl’s brain sent several error messages back to back, and she worried that her form would flicker. This conversation was too close to two subjects she didn’t want to talk about. She opened her mouth to change the subject, but Steven wasn’t done.

“Hmmm... so you and Garnet are my adoptive moms, and I already have my dad, so that means Amethyst is like my big sister!” Steven threw his arms out and rolled onto the pile of sand.

“Steven! Garnet and I aren’t...” Pearl trailed off. Steven wasn’t listening. He was chanting in a sing song voice.

“Gem family, gem family!”

“Hey lil’ bro!”

Pearl shirked as Amethyst appeared from the sand. She must have been in a crab or shell form.

“Amethyst!” Steven and Pearl said at the same time. While Pearl said it with habitual frustration, Steven was even more excited than before.

“Did you hear what I was telling Pearl?” he asked, stars swimming in his eyes.

“Uh, yeah!” Amethyst shape-shifted into Steven and wrapped an arm around him. “Hey, hey, Pearl, you see a family resemblance?”

Pearl stiffened for only a moment before dissolving into laughter. Amethyst and Steven joined, sandcastle and shape-shifting forgotten.

Soon enough, a sizzling sound joined the laughter.

“What did I miss?”

“Hey mom!” Steven and Amethyst chorused, still laughing.

Garnet’s goggles disappeared, leaving her shades in their place.

“Pearl?”

Pearl turned turquoise, and she knew she was turning that one color - the one that printers were always running out of. “It’s a, uh, a long story.”

“I have time.”

“Uh oh, moms need to have a talk,” Amethyst said.

Amethyst turned into a helicopter, snatched Steven, and sped off, making wooshwoosh noises with her mouth.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...” Steven’s voice receded into the distance.

Garnet adjusted her visor, then finished wading out of the sea, a clam held in one hand. Pearl looked down at her knees and trailed one finger in the sand. With a quiet thump, Garnet sat opposite her.

“So... moms?” Garnet began.

Pearl’s eyes widened, and she stared more intently at the ground.

“Steven just realized that, in human terms, we might be considered married. And then he went on about how we were like a family, and... it was nothing.”

“If it was nothing, then why are you blushing?”

Pearl winced, everything stiffening, then she flopped onto her legs. This was really happening, they were going to have this conversation.

Garnet’s fingers found her chin, and gently lifted her head so that Pearl was looking into her eyes. Garnet’s visor was gone.

“Pearl, how long have we known each other?”

“6,000 years? Give or take?”

Garnet tilted her head and smiled. “I know you, Pearl, and you know me. We’ve seen each other at our worst-“

“Multiple times,” Pearl added.

“And we’ve stayed by each other’s side. I know something’s been bothering you, since the Sardonyx incident at least.”

Pearl nodded. “I know I should talk to you, but I just feel like-“ she gripped her knees “- I feel like such a burden. You never talk about this sort of thing with me, and I don’t want to bother you.”

“Pearl, just because I don’t talk about things with you doesn’t mean I don’t want to. I’m not a big feelings talker. Not usually. Steven helps.”

Pearl laughs. “Sometimes he’s so like Rose, and sometimes...”

“He’s not Rose.”

“He never has been,” Pearl said shaking her head. “He may have her gem, but he’s his own person, has his own soul. But he is her son, and he can’t help but remind me of her.”

“He reminds me of the best of her, and the best of Greg.”

Pearl nodded, smiling and fighting tears. A seagull cried, and several more answered. The ocean was gentle today. Pearl broke eye contact with Garnet to stare off at the waves.

“I know why I could never be with Rose,” she began, her voice soft. “She never thought of me, of any of us, as her equals. She thought of herself as our mother, and in a way she was. But that’s why Rainbow Quartz felt so - different than fusing with you, or fusing with Amethyst even. Our feelings didn’t match.”

Garnet’s fingers had never left her chin and with the slightest pressure, she encouraged Pearl to look her in the eyes.

“That’s the thing with fusion, for it to be stable the emotions that make it must be in harmony. Amethyst sees us as parental figures, and we see her as our child, so our fusions work. Steven and Amethyst see each other as siblings, so Smokey Quartz is stable. Stevonnie is made of Steven and Connie’s love for each other, and for them, it doesn’t matter what the nature of that love is.”

Pearl nodded slowly, her eyes falling briefly to Garnet’s upturned lips, before drifting back to her eyes.

“What about Sardonyx?”

Garnet’s face fell, and Pearl felt an icy feeling drip from her gem all the way to her feet.

“No, wait, forget that I said-” Pearl began to back track, but Garnet’s other hand finding her cheek silenced her.

“Pearl, you know the answer to that. We’ve always known the answer, we just pretend that we don’t. Sardonyx knew in her first moment of existence.”

Pearl’s hands fell from her knees. The water brushed against her fingertips as Garnet brushed her thumb over Pearl’s cheek.

The waves went in and out. Garnet and Pearl looked at each other, unmoving.

Steady.

Pearl shifted to her hip, then her knees, then leaned forward.

Sardonyx stretched her arms out and smiled. She looked around for an audience, but found none. It had been a thousand or so years since she’d been out without something she was supposed to do.

The clam fell out of one of her hands and she looked down at it, then stopped to pick it up. Garnet had brought it for some reason. Carefully, she pried it open. In the center of the two shells was a pearl.

In day light, the bright flash that lingered as she defused wasn’t as dramatic, but Sardonyx wasn’t there to complain about the lack of flare.

Pearl pressed her lips against Garnet’s for a moment longer, Garnet’s hands gentle against her waist. But she still had a question.

“Garnet?” Pearl asked as she pulled away, holding up the saltwater pearl that now lay on her palm.

“They’re made naturally here. I thought you might like to see a pearl born free.”

Pearl’s eyes watered, the emotion spilling out in loud, messy sobs. She threw her arms around Garnet.

When Steven came out to check on them, much later, he found Sardonyx splayed across the sand, staring at the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, don’t forget to comment/critique!


	3. Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the end, marriage brings together more than just two people. It can bring together two species.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh I actually finished a multichapter fic! I hope everyone liked this! Thanks for coming!

Marriage was another thing Pearl didn’t understand, but she was trying. They all were. And - if she didn’t say so herself - they were all doing quite well.

The ceremony and reception were going to take place on the beach, and from the house’s windows Pearl could see the Maheswarens and the rest of Connie’s extended family, as well as Greg and Mr. DeMayo - Steven’s uncle. Lars and Sadie, and their toddler daughter Rosie were there too. Pearl laughed as the small pink child - with her inexplicable rose quartz gem peaking out over the collar of her dress - ran and jumped into Fluorite’s back, Amethyst close behind. Padparadscha was sitting with Buck, Jenny, and Sour Cream. The rest of the Pizza’s were with the Frymans. Rhodonite was worrying over the floral arrangements, and the Rutile twins... appeared to be having an actual conversation with Onion and his friends.

“Be careful Peridot!”

Lapis’s voice drew Pearl’s attention to the kitchen, where Peridot and Lapis were working on the food for the reception. Having farmers in the Universe-Gem family was definitely a plus.

“I am!” Peridot shook a spoon at Lapis.

“Oh, you two!” Pearl scolded, but her words were filled with more amusement than anything else.

“Stay out of it clod!” Peridot shot at her.

All three of them started laughing. No matter what, they had the wedding cake Lars had baked. Pearl was even considering tasting the icing when they served it. She wouldn’t dare eat it, but tasting icing might be doable.

“Garnet!” Steven’s voice, older but still with a childish edge, sounded from inside the temple.

Garnet looked over her visor, lounged on the couch, still in her regular clothes. Pearl had already changed into the tuxedo, the one Greg had bought her years ago.

“Be there in a sec,” Garnet called back, before turning to Pearl. “You should check on Connie.”

“Future Vision talking?” Pearl asked.

“Nope. Just a feeling.”

Garnet got up and went to the temple door, which opened to Rose’s - Steven’s - room.

Pearl made a “hmmm,” noise, then headed for the bathroom.

She knocked on the bathroom door. “Connie? How are you doing in there?”

“Pearl? That you?” came Connie’s reply.

“Yes. May I come in?”

“I guess so.”

Pearl slowly turned the cool handle and let herself in.

Connie sat on the toilet seat, staring at her knees.

She’s grown up well, smart, strong, smart, beautiful. Her hair was in the elaborate up do that Amethyst had helped with that morning, but now she was in her wedding dress, a lacy, strapless gown that showed off her toned arms.

The only problem was that Connie didn’t look happy.

“Connie...” Pearl began cautiously, taking a seat at Connie’s feet. “What’s wrong?”

“I-I don’t know. I-when I asked Steven to marry me, this is exactly what I wanted. It still is, but...” Connie lapsed into silence.

“But...” Pearl prompted.

“But I’m worried!” Connie threw her hands down and her head up. “Steven’s a gem! Well, half gem, but he’s still kind of immortal! And I’m just not! I’m human! How’s this going to work? What’s going to happen to our kids? I don’t want to lose him, and I’m scared I will! I don’t want to hurt him by leaving like that! And our kids! What if they’re gems? How am I going to be a good mom to immortal kids that aren’t even my own species and have powers I don’t understand!”

Pearl touched Connie’s hand gently. Even after fifteen years of this, eight years of them in college, and the last three as mayor of Beach City, sometimes Connie was still a little girl who grew up in an over-protective family. This was one of those times.

“Oh, Connie,” Pearl began, but she stopped. She didn’t know what to say.

This was new territory.

But Pearl did know one thing that would help.

“Let’s spar, for old times sake,” Pearl said, standing up and offering Connie her hand.

Connie took it.

—

No words were exchanged during their match, but Pearl watched as the tension and anxiety eased out of Connie.

By the time they bowed to each other to end the match, Connie was smiling.

“You ready?” Pearl asked.

“Yeah, I think I am!”

They left the sky arena and warped back just in time for Amethyst to burst into the house.

“There you are!” Amethyst gestured helplessly at them. “You better be ready!”

“Well you’re not!” Pearl pointed at Amethyst’s decidedly casual appearance.

Amethyst rolled her eyes and a dress appeared in a flash.

“Better?”

“Yes,” Pearl said, clasping her hands together.

The three hurried down to the ceremony; Pearl and Amethyst taking their place beside Garnet on Steven’s side of the alter. Mr. Dewey stood in the middle, ready to officiate.

Steven had that starry look in his eyes, his hands restless. He looked so handsome. Pearl felt tears begin to full her eyes, the years hitting her all at once.

Steven wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was a man now, his own gem.

The music began, courtesy of Sadie Killer and the Suspects, and Pearl watched Connie walk down the aisle, one parent on either side.

“Steven, don’t look ‘round, but just wait ‘til you see her.” Garnet grinned, a tear leaking out from under her visor.

Pearl cried through the whole ceremony, Amethyst’s hand in her left, and Garnet’s arm around her waist.

When Steven and Connie kissed they glowed brightly, almost fusing before pulling away.

Everything descended into languid chaos as they set up the reception dinner. Everyone was talking and laughing, both halves of the new extended family together for the first time.

In all her nearly 8,000 years of life, Pearl had never dreamed of having this. But this was exactly what she wanted, she realized as Lars proudly cut the cake for the newly weds.

Everyone had a glass of champagne (or sparkling cider) when Amethyst elbowed Pearl.

“Wha?” Pearl whispered.

“Don’t you have a speech?” Amethyst reminded her.

“Oh! Right...”

Pearl cleared her throat, picked up her glass, and stood up.

All eyes turned to her. Silence fell.

Pearl swallowed dryly.

“Good, ahem, ah, evening, um... everyone...” Pearl gulped. “Um...” Pearl leaned over to Garnet.

“Nope.”

“But I didn’t...”

“I know.”

Pearl took a deep breath.

“But I know who can,” Garnet said, standing up and putting a hand on Pearl’s shoulder.

Pearl briefly registered the flash of light and gasps of the crowd before she dissipated into the universe.

“Good evening ladies and Gems! This is Sardonyx, coming to you in person!” Sardonyx spun, champagne outstretched.

_‘Tone it down, this is an intimate audience, and it’s not about you.’_

“We’re all here to celebrate the lovely Steven and Connie and their marriage,” Sardonyx continued. “And while Pearl and Garnet were both supposed to give speeches - “ Sardonyx leaned in faux-conspiratorially “ - neither of them excel at talking in front of a crowd. They’re quite awful at it really. So, here I am, filling in.”

Ah, just as she wanted. The assembled guests were all smiling or laughing under their breath.

“I’ve known Steven and Connie for a time now, can’t say exactly, time is relative when you’ve been around for millennia, but so have all of you! So, I’m going to skip the embarrassing stories - for now.” Sardonyx closed her eyes and removed her tinted glasses. “As the product of not one, but two relationships, I feel qualified to give our newly weds advice.”

She cleared her throat.

“A marriage is like fusion, it takes the best and worst of you to make it work. If you hide the bad, or suppress the good, it will fall apart. You will fall apart. It takes communication, it takes honesty, it takes love. If you love each other, you can survive anything. Whatever fears you both have coming into this marriage, know you don’t have to face it alone. You don’t have to face anything alone anymore. Whatever life throws you.”

Sardonyx lifted up her glass. “To Steven and Connie. To Stevonnie!”

The assembled group raised their own, and chorused back, “Stevonnie!”

—

The sun had gone down, and the moon hung high in the sky, and Sadie Killer and the suspects were playing a slow song. The wedding guests had slowly dispersed into smaller groups, some sitting, some dancing, most talking and laughing. Connie and Steven had fused midway through their first dance, and Stevonnie hadn’t left the dance floor.

Pearl sat on the sidelines, a soft smile on her face. She’d undone her bow tie some time earlier, and was content watching everyone else.

Amethyst was spinning Rosie around, and Garnet had unfused for a bit. Ruby and Sapphire were slow dancing, not far from Vidalia and Yellowtail. Lapis and Peridot were dancing too, Peridot in those silly stilts. Connie’s parents were waltzing - actually waltzing.

Pearl sniffed, tears tickling the corners of her eyes. This is what Rose had wanted.

This was what she wanted.

Gems and humans. Existing in peace.

“Is there anything that’s worth more,” Pearl sung under her breath, “than peace and love on the planet earth.”

That’s all it was. Everything Pearl had learned about earth, about humans. It all came down to love.

Love was what held the universe together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments are always appreciated! Also, let me know if you’d like an epilogue! I’ve got one kicking around, so just give the word! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> A personal disclaimer: I’m a dancer, and a performer in general, and the Sardonyx we know seems like a well seasoned performer, which leads me to think she has heightened emotional and energy awareness that allows her to entertain. Being on stage is a very emotional and vulnerable experience, and I relate SO hard to Sardonyx on that. 
> 
> Please leave a comment with your questions, comments, concerns, existential crises, emotional outbursts, and derogatory remarks. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
